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Gainax Ruined the Ending
When a finale doesn't end with a Satisfactory Conclusion, yet it still averts No Ending at All. How do they cope? Making a weird ending. This can even happen in otherwise serious series. Come in three variants: #All Questions Unanswered: Unless you follow the story, the ending won't make sense and won't resolve any plot threads. #Works as a Satisfactory Conclusion: When the writers deliberately tie a Satisfactory Conclusion and this together. #No Ending with No Cliffhanger: No Ending at All, except it never ended on a cliffhanger. See also Satisfactory Conclusion for works with finales that can count as this, True ending for the best ending in the entire work, and No Ending at All for works without an ending. The Trope Namer is Gainax of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame, so weird endings from not only Gainax but also its successor will be mentioned. As spoilers are ahead, it is recommended you watch these series before reading this page. Please limit this to lampshades, series finales, or the last installment of a work. Examples All Questions Unanswered *The TV version of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which the movies are trying to fix. *Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. Not helped by it being a comedy anime. *Lampshaded in South Park: "Alright, here's the script. But it doesn't have an ending". Also parodies No Ending at All, though the finished short that was featured in the episode technically did have an ending. *Danganronpa averts this in the anime, but the bad ending definitely counts- Kirigiri getting executed, class trials coming to an end, them living in Hope's Peak forever... "No! This isn't right!" *Rid yourself of Monika before starting the game, and you're in for a short game of Doki Doki Literature Club: Sayori will be the only character you ever see, and she'll drive herself to suicide soon after. *Every single installment of Pokémon prior to Sun & Moon will end with Ash losing the league (he did win the Orange Islands league and the Battle Frontier, but they're not even major tournaments and the former is anime-only), and in the case of Best Wishes, will feature him going back to his hometown at the end. Works as a Satisfactory Conclusion *The Big O: The first season ended with No Ending at All. The second season, which was funded by Cartoon Network, ended by tying a Satisfactory Conclusion and this together, with the entire plane of existence getting a reboot. *Space Patrol Luluco: Though it doesn't really leave any loose ends. Helped by the fact that Luluco's been revealed to be Miss Trigger. *Kill la Kill also does this. After the TV series ended, it still felt incomplete (despite it ending with a Satisfactory Conclusion), so one last OVA was made to bring the story to an end. *Guilty Crown: Takes a serious approach to this. After the final battle (and after Inori's sacrifice), no one finds out what lives the protagonists had after that, save that Tsugumi is now a teacher. *Jewelpet: The Happiness season only existed because Ruby drew on the moon (or rather, a mirror), so cleaning up the whole mess can be considered this. Who knew how a cute rabbit can create so many evil monsters? After that, there was Magical Change, the final TV anime in the franchise, which ended on one of these as well as a satisfactory conclusion to the TV anime as a whole. *Animal Crossing: Paying off that last bit of debt to Nook (when an expansion to your house is no longer plausible) will result in this. But you won't get a credits sequence- you need to speak to K.K. Slider to watch those. *Gurren Lagann: Not helped by the opening inverting this. *Neglect your Pixel Chix long enough, and said Pixel Chix can move out. Can be reduced to No Ending at All if you push the small "reset" button, though. *After Ash finally won a major tournament in Pokémon Sun & Moon, the episodes between his win and the upcoming reboot are this. No Ending with No Cliffhanger *Pretty Cure: The then-current PreCure can sometimes end abruptly without a plot resolution or a cliffhanger, in favor of a reboot. They may get a finale movie, but... *Any anime prior to Astro Boy (1963) ending, which paved the way for more anime getting at least a Satisfactory Conclusion. *Shugo Chara!: Party! ended without an ending, but the structure didn't require a cliffhanger. *The first One Piece film (made before the TV series) ended with one of these. But then the TV version began airing.